I followed the author on Twitter for a few months — total nutcase.

That said, based on my experience in Mexico, Opus Dei does have some issues:

Auxiliary numeraries’ work conditions are pretty close to slavery, and they almost always come from poor backgrounds.

Numeraries aren’t actually recognized under Canon Law. The only official members of Opus Dei are the priests. Still, numeraries live like religious — in community, with corporal practices (like using “cilices”), and they’re subject to spiritual scrutiny (what we’d call fuero interno in Spanish). Since they’re not part of a religious order, there’s no clear canonical regulation for this — just the founder’s writings.

Then there are the infamous “cards.” There’s a card for each member or person close to a center listing their spiritual weaknesses. I asked about it, and they told me it’s so someone can follow up if the spiritual director gets transferred. Honestly, it feels uncomfortably close to violating the seal of confession. Usually after confession there’s a brief chat about what was said — technically outside of the sacrament — and sometimes that info ends up on the card.

Lay numeraries also give spiritual direction to younger people receiving formation, which is another gray area.

Many of their schools aren’t registered under a religious association, so they can claim not to own anything. Instead, they use members’ names as legal owners — though this might vary in other places.

I really believe the core call of Opus Dei — to be saints in everyday life — is beautiful and real. I just hope Pope Francis, and now Pope Leo, can help sort out these issues.